Five Days and Counting...

Kory and I spent nearly the whole day going through stuff and packing it, throwing it or giving it away. At least now the garage, the attic and my desk are empty. Those places tend to collect the most junk, so now we just have to deal with surface things. We’ll wait until after lunch tomorrow to do all that since we have guests coming for lunch. It never ends.

A new friend, Tina, stopped by for coffee today. I was so excited to show someone my new bedcover. Kory just doesn’t “get it” as to why I’m so pleased with it, so it was good to have a woman here who understands. We talked about all kinds of things and both of us flipped back and forth from English to Norwegian – sometimes in the same sentence. It’s so funny now when I throw in a Norwegian word into an English sentence and don’t even realize it. I just pick the word that’s easiest to say and often has less syllables. And I feel like I’m right on the cusp of beginning to understand the proper use of pronouns and the variety of endings to adjectives, so I’m a little sad I may forget some of it at home. It does get easier to speak the language the longer we are here.

It’s now two in the morning as I write this. I was invited to a 50th birthday party tonight for Kristen, one of The Praying Women (see photo). I feel like I’ve entered the inner circle and now I see how these Norwegians really live. I feel so lucky to have been included and so accepted by this group of women. So many at my school feel completely isolated and shunned here and they find it very difficult to make friends. I’m sure if I weren’t married to someone from here, I might have the same problem, but as it is, I have been warmly embraced. It feels so special for me as I’ve lived in the Skagit Valley for ten years and still feel somewhat like an outsider, so it’s nice to feel like I’m one of the gang here, even if I don’t speak Norwegian properly.

I was a bit surprised by the formality of the party. I should expect that by now, but I was still unprepared. All the women had on very nice dresses and they wore makeup, jewelry, perfume and high heels (I barely got my hair brushed). It’s the first time I’ve seen shoes worn inside a house, but they assured me they were “innesko” (inside shoes), and they ARE allowed on special occasions. I wore my sandals, knowing I’d have to take them off when I got there, so I was walking around all night barefoot like some hillbilly, while all the other 14 women were clunking away on the hardwood floors with their pretty high heeled shoes. Who knew there were exceptions to that rule.

When we walked in the door we were handed a small glass with a tiny spoon. The glass was full of some mixture of something bubbly with tiny bits of fresh fruit floating around it in. The liquid tasted good but I avoided the strawberries as they aren’t my favorite. We chatted a bit waiting for all the guests to arrive then we were invited to the table. We stood behind our chairs while Kristen read a poem she’d written for the occasion, thanking us for sharing this day with her. After she was done, she invited us to sit at the table. They all sang a prayer (I didn’t know the words) and then we ate some very good food while we visited. After dinner we drank coffee and ate cakes. There were six cakes for 15 people. I guess they are crazy for their cakes in this part of Norway and it’s not uncommon to be at a party where there is a cake for every two people in attendance. Oh man, I’m going to miss those cakes. They aren’t ANYTHING like America cakes – in fact, flour is probably not even an ingredient in most of them. One of my favorites is when they bake two whole sheets of just whipped egg whites, so it’s nice and crunchy, then set a vanilla custard in the middle of the baked egg whites. That one is to die for. Oi. After dessert we played a game of “Mad Libs” where someone wrote a story and left all the adjectives blank and before the story was read, we had to give random adjectives to fill in the blanks. It turned out pretty funny and had everyone laughing for a good long time. Kristen opened all her birthday cards and read out loud what people wrote on them (that’s very common here) and the party went on until midnight. What a treat. I told them I’m taking some of that good Norwegian food back home with me to America, as I patted my behind. Surely I will.

Kory had his cousin Axel over for barbequed whale tonight so they ate together and had a nice visit (Axel’s wife Kari was with me at the party). We got a text message inviting us over to Odds, just after midnight, so we went there after the party. We were all outside on the deck until 1:30, drinking wine and talking about how sad it is we have to move back home. Odd is quite adamant we should move back here in October. Cousin Kari is sure the bedcover I found is a sign from God we should stay here. I thought she was joking, but I’m not quite sure. It’s good to know we’ll be missed.